Hawks-Mavericks Preview

By JORDAN GARRETSONPosted Feb 10 2013 4:45PM

Not long ago, the Atlanta Hawks were one of the bigger surprises in the NBA. However, their strong first two months appear to be a distant memory with the club on a run of inconsistent play since.

The Dallas Mavericks hope their promising homestand can help spark them back toward the .500 mark, and they'll go for a third straight victory Monday night against a Hawks team that's had little success on the road in this series.

The Hawks (27-22) have stumbled since a 20-10 start, and personnel changes may be coming as speculation swirls around Josh Smith.

The forward, averaging 16.9 points and 8.5 rebounds, will be a free agent after the season and could be dealt before the trade deadline.

"Every year, people ask me the same questions," Smith said. "They asked me the same questions four years ago, and I'm still here. I'm not worried about rumors. I'm just going to keep playing."

Smith had 19 points against New Orleans on Friday, but the Hawks fell victim to Greivis Vasquez's triple-double in a 111-100 home loss.

Atlanta continues to struggle to guard the 3-point line, as the Hornets made 13 of 24 from beyond the arc. The Hawks have allowed opponents to shoot 41.6 percent on 3s as they've lost four of six, and teams are hitting 38.3 percent from 3-point range against Atlanta this season - among the highest marks in the NBA.

The Hawks led the Hornets by 14 in the second quarter but were outscored 29-16 in the third.

"We have to develop a killer instinct," coach Larry Drew said. "If we want to be a team that's mentioned with some of the better teams, we've got to learn to put teams away. Right now, we're just not very good at that."

The Mavericks (22-28) are starting to look better at it, having gotten off to a 2-0 start on their five-game homestand after a 3-5 stretch. Dallas has won six of eight at home, while Atlanta is 1-8 in its last nine on the road.

Shawn Marion scored 26 points - 14.4 above his average - in a 116-91 win over Golden State on Saturday. Marion has averaged 17.7 points and 56.0 percent shooting in his last seven contests.

"The ball was finding me," Marion said. "A lot of times, when you initiate the offense in this system, sometimes at the end of it you're going to be reciprocated."

Dallas scored 27 points off 16 Golden State turnovers while limiting its own giveaways to 10.

"I thought our energy was good, particularly in the first half," coach Rick Carlisle told the team's official website. "We had a lull there in the second half, and I thought we played about 40 good minutes. The goal is to make it 48, so we'll be striving to do that on Monday."

The Mavericks had won three in a row over Atlanta before a 106-89 loss in the teams' regular-season finale April 26. Smith had 23 points and shot 10 of 14 to go with nine rebounds and seven assists.

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Smith has double-double as Hawks hold of Mavericks

Posted Feb 12 2013 12:57AM

Once Mayo shifted the dribble to his right hand, Harris knew he had a chance to knock the ball loose and help the Atlanta Hawks pick up a rare road victory.

Harris picked up a key steal in the final minute, Josh Smith had 26 points and 13 rebounds and the Hawks beat the Dallas Mavericks 105-101 Monday night.

Atlanta was up 99-98 when Elton Brand knocked the ball away from Smith. Mayo picked it up and was driving for the go-ahead basket.

Harris, who played 3 1/2 seasons with the Mavericks before he was sent away as part of the Jason Kidd trade in 2008, snuck up from behind and poked the ball away from Mayo. He then saved the ball from going out of bounds with 23.9 seconds left.

"I just kind of wanted to sit behind and see if he would put the ball back in his right hand," Harris said. "When he did, I was able to steal it away at the right time."

Smith connected on two free throws to extend Atlanta's lead to 101-98. Needing a 3-pointer to tie it, Mayo made a bad pass that the Hawks stole with 14.9 seconds remaining.

Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver each made a pair of free throws down the stretch to preserve the victory.

"Obviously, we're disappointed," Mayo said. "It was a winnable game. We didn't make the plays down the end and they made some plays."

The Hawks came into the game having lost eight of nine road games since Jan. 4.

"Any time you go on the road and get a win, it's always big," Atlanta coach Larry Drew said. "We've had our ups and downs, as most teams do. But we have not fragmented when that has happened."

Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points and Mayo chipped in with 19 for the Mavericks, who fell five games behind the Houston Rockets for the eighth-place spot in the Western Conference.

Even though the game was decided late, coach Rick Carlisle was disappointed in Dallas' rough first quarter. The Mavericks fell behind 10-0 and trailed by as much as 13 early.

"I didn't have our guys ready to play," Carlisle said. "You've got a team of guys that just goes out and is walking around at the beginning of a game. That's on the coach."

Dallas, which didn't lead until the fourth quarter, took a 91-86 lead when Brandan Wright scored five straight points. Smith answered with a dunk and a 3-pointer to tie the game at 91 with 5:44 left.

Smith whipped a pass to Horford for a dunk that stretched Atlanta's lead to 96-92 and he hit a 3-pointer over Nowitzki that made it 99-94 with 1:29 left.

Nowitzki connected on a pair of free throws and short shot over Smith that cut it to 99-98 with 44.9 seconds remaining.

That set up the frantic final seconds where the Hawks held on for their eighth win in 20 games after starting 20-10.

Smith was 10 of 15 shooting, including four 3-pointers, and handed out six assists. The forward knows his name has been in trade rumors that have surfaced in the past few days.

"I'm just trying to focus on getting better as an individual on the court," Smith said. "As long as I'm with the Atlanta Hawks, I can only focus on how to make this team better."

Dallas rebounded from its slow start to pull within 49-48 at half.

Darren Collison's 3-point play tied the score at 64 midway through the third.

Korver hit a 3-pointer in transition and John Jenkins followed with a basket to give Atlanta an 82-74 advantage.

The Mavericks scored seven points over the final 1:04 of the third, capped by two free throws from Nowitzki, to pull to 82-81.

NOTES: The Mavericks have scored 100 points in 13 of their last 15 games. ... Korver has hit a 3-pointer in 44 straight games, the longest active streak in the NBA. . Harris started for the first time since Jan. 30 and finished with 15 points and five assists.

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Notebook: Hawks 105, Mavericks 101

THE FACTS: Josh Smith punished the Dallas Mavericks inside and out and powered the Atlanta Hawks to a rare road victory Monday. He went 4-for-5 on 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 26 points, 13 rebounds and six assists in a 105-101 Hawks win over the Mavs. Al Horford added 21 points and 10 boards and Jeff Teague had 20 points and nine assists for the Hawks (28-22), who won for just the second time in their last 10 road games.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 to lead six players in double figures for the Mavericks (22-29). O.J. Mayo added 19 points, but was just 2-for-7 in the fourth quarter and committed two of his four turnovers in the critical closing seconds. Darren Collison contributed 14 points and 10 assists and Vince Carter had 13 points off the Dallas bench.

QUOTABLE: "This was probably one of the biggest wins for us this year, coming into an arena that is very tough to play in. ... For the most part, we did an excellent job of executing our game plan and our strategy of trying to keep them off balance as best we can."

--Hawks coach Larry Drew

THE STAT: The Hawks are 11-2 when Smith and Horford both have double-doubles. They were a combined 20-for-29 from the field.

TURNING POINT: Elton Brand stole the ball from Smith with 30 seconds remaining and Dallas down 99-98. Mayo pushed it downcourt and appeared to be setting up his shot when Devin Harris picked his pocket from behind. After Smith sank two free throws to make it 101-98 with 22.2 seconds left, Mayo coughed it up again. His pass to Carter at the top of the key was way off the mark and intercepted by Teague, who then converted two clutch free throws for a five-point lead.

QUOTABLE II: "We've just got to learn from these things and get better -- and we have gotten better. But we haven't broken the threshold that's going to make us a team that can really become a dangerous team. I think we're a dangerous team. I think we can beat anybody on any given night, but the consistency has got to be better."

--Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle

HOT: Carter drained his first four shots from 3-point distance and finished 4-for-5. Nowitzki was 3-for-4 behind the arc, becoming the 29th player in NBA history with 1,300 career 3-pointers.

NOT: The Mavericks shot 33.3 percent (7-for-21) with four turnovers during the fourth quarter.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: In addition to the double-double, Horford added three steals, two blocked shots and two assists to fill up the stat sheet.

NOTABLE: Mavericks center Chris Kaman (concussion) missed his seventh straight game. ... Kyle Korver extended his streak to 44 consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer, the longest in Hawks history and the longest active streak in the NBA. ... Atlanta guard DeShawn Stevenson played on the Mavericks' 2011 championship team. Harris played for Dallas from 2004-08. ... The Hawks are 23-1 when they lead entering the fourth quarter and 21-5 when they register 24 or more assists (26). ... The Mavericks took their first lead of the game with 11:10 left in the fourth quarter.